day whereupon he added action to his intent and filled his fielde with a thousand goates but the euent fell out otherwaies then he expected for in short time the multitude infected one another and so he lost both milke and flesh whereby it is apparant that it is not safe to feed great flocks of these cattell together In Indian in the Region Coitha the inhabitants giue their milch-goates dried fishes to eate but their ordinary foode is leaues tender braunches and boughes of trees and also bushes or brambles whereupon Virgill wrot in this mauner Pascuntur vero siluas summa Lycaei morentesque rubos amantes arctua dumos They loue to feede on the Mountaines better then in the vallies and greene fieldes alwaies striuing to licke vp the yuie or green plants or to climbe vpon trees cropping off with their teeth all maner wild herbs and if they be restrained and inclosed in fields then they doe the like to the plants that they find there wherefore there was an auncient law among the Romans when a man let out his ground to farme he should alwaies condition and except with the farmer that he should not breede any Goate in his ground for their teeth are enemies to all tender plantes their teeth are also exitiable to a tree and Pliny and Varro affirme that the Goate by licking the Oliue tree maketh it barren for which cause in ancient time A Goate was not sacrifized to Minerua to whom the Olyue was sacred There is no creature that feedeth vpon such diuersity of meat as Goats for which cause they are elegantly brought in by Eupolis the olde Poet bragging of theyr belly cheare wherein they number vp aboue fiue and twenty seueral things different in name nature and tast and for this cause Eustathius defended by strong argument against Disarius that men and cattell which feede vpon diuers things haue lesse health then those beasts which eate one kind of fruite alone They loue Tameriske Alderne elme-Elme-tree assarabacke and a tree called Alaternus which neuer beareth fruit but only leaues also three leaued-grasse yuie the hearbe Lada which groweth no where but in Arabia whereby it commeth to passe that many times the haire of Goats is found in the gumbe called Ladanum for the peoples greedy desire of the gumbe causeth them to wipe the iuyce from the Goates beard For the increase of milke in them giue them Cinquefoyle fiue daies together before they drinke or else binde Dittany to their bellies or as Lacuna translateth the words out of Affricâ—nus you may lay milke to their bellies belike by rubbing it thereupon The wild Goats of Creete Aristotle eate dittany aforesaid against the stroks of Darts and Serapion auoucheth by the experience of Galen that goats by licking the leaues of Tamariske loose their gall and likewise that he saw them licking Serpents which had newly lost their skins and the euent therof was that their age neuer turned or changed into whitenesse or other externall signes thereof Also it is deliuered by good obseruation that if they eate or drinke out of vessels of Tamariske Constantinus they shal neuer haue any Spleen if any one of them eate Sea-holly the residue of the flocke stand still and will not goe â—orward till the meate be out of his mouth The Grammarians say that Chimâ—ra was killed by Bellerophon the son of Glaucus in the Mountain Lycius Aelianus and the reason heereof is that the Poets fained Chimaera to bee composed of a Lyon a Dragon and a Goate and in that mountaine all those three were kept and fed for in the top were Lions in the middle were Goats and also at the foot thereof Serpents If they suffer heate or cold they are much endaungered for such is their nature that they auoide all extremity and the females with younge are most of al molested with cold If they haue conceiued in the Wynter then many abortementes or casting their young followeth In like sort it hapneth if they eate Walnuts and not to their full vnripe therefore either they must be suffered to eate of them to saciety or else they are not to be permitted to them Dioscorides If at any time they eate Scammony Hellebore Lesseron or Mercury they are much troubled in their stomach and loose their milke especially the white Hellebor The publicans in the prouince of Cyrene haue all the gouernment of the pastures Pliny and therfore they permit not Benzwine to grow in their country finding thereby greate gaine and if at any time their sheepe or goats meete with any braunch thereof they eate it geedily but the sheepe immediatly fall to sleepe and the goates to Neezing Agolethros and Sabine are poyson to Goates The Herbe called in Greeke Rhododendron and may be englished Rose-tree is poyson goates and yet the same helpeth a man against the vemon of Serpents The prickle or spindle tree called also Euonimus which groweth in the Mount Occynius calâ—ed Ordyno about the bignesse of a pine-apple-tree hauing soft leaues like the same and it buddeâ—h in September and the flower is like to a white violet flower this killeth Goates except they be purged with black Hellebor imediately after they haue eaten thereof Horus The Egyptians when they wil describe a man deuouring sheepe or Goats they picture the herbe Curilago or Conyza because it also killeth them Also as Clodrysippus affirmeth they auoide Cumin for it maketh them mad or bringeth vpon them lethargies and such like infirmities He auoydeth also the spettle of man for it is hurtfull to him and to the Sea-fish Scolopendra and yet he eateth many venemous herbes and groweth fat thereby Aelianus and this also may be added that Goats grow fat when they are with young but by drinking of Honey they are weakened and indaungered of death Concerning their drinke it is necessary for a skilfull Goat-herd to obserue the nature of the beast and the best time and place of their watering according to the saying of Virgill Iâ—beâ— frondeâ—tia Capris Arbâ—ta sufficere fluuios prebere rerentes In the Summer they are to be watered twice a day and at other times once onely in the afternoone but it is reported of the Goats of Cephalenia Aristotle Myndius that they drinke not euery daie like other goats but onely once or twice in six moneths and therefore they turne themselues to the winde or cold aire of the sea and by gawning Aelianus sucke into their mouths or bellies that which serueth them instead of water When the sun declineth they lie and looke not vpon one another but on the contrary and they which lodge in the fields take vppe their rest among their acquaintance But if they be vsed to fold or house they remember it and repaire thither of their owne accord which thing caused the Poet to write in this maner Atque ipsae memores redeâ—ntin tecta suosque Ducunt graundâ— superaut vix vbere limen Concerning
young and in sending of the lesser foremost not onely for the reason aforesaid but also because they being hunted and prosecuted it is requisite that the greatest and strongest come in the reare and hindmost part for the safeguarde of the weaker against the fury of their persecutors being better able to fight then the formost whom in natural loue and pollicy they set farthest from the danger Mutius which had beene thrice Consull affirmeth that he saw Elephants brought on shore at Puteoli in Italy they were caused to goe out of the ship backeward all along the bridge that was made for them Tha bringing of Elephants out of ships A secret if true that so the sight of the Sea might terrifie them and cause them more willingly to come on land and that they might not be terrified with the length of the bridge from the continent Pliny and Solinus affirme that they will not goe on shipboord vntill their keeper by some intelligible signe of oath make promise vnto them of their returne backe againe They sometime as hath beene said fight one against another and when the weaker is ouercome Aristotle Of their fighting he is so much abased and cast downe in minde that euer after he feareth the voyce of the conqueror They are neuer so fierce violent or wilde but the sight of a Ramme tameth and dismayeth them for they feare his hornes for which cause the Egiptians picture an Elephant and a Ramme to signifie a foolish king that runneth away for a fearefull sight in the field Gillius Aelianus Coelius Zoroastres Their fear of Rams swine and other beasts Volateranus And not onely a Ramme but also the gruntling clamour or cry of Hogs by which meanes the Romanes ouerthrew the Carthaginians and Pirrhus which trusted ouermuch to their Elephants When Antipater besieged the Megarians very straitly with many Elephants the Citizens tooke certaine Swine and anointed them with pitch then set them on fire and turned them out among the Elephants who crying horribly by reason of the fire on their bodies so distemperd the Elephants that all the wit of the Macedonians could not restraine them from madnesse fury and flying vpon their owne company onely because of the cry of the Swine And to take away that feare from Elephants they bring vp with them when they are tamed young Pigges and Swine euer since that time When Elephants are chased in hunting if the Lions see them they runne from them like Hindecalfes from the Dogges of Hunters and yet Iphicrates sayeth that among the Hesperian or westerne Aethiopians Lions set vpon the young Calues of Elephants and wound them but at the sight of the mothers which come with speede to them when they heare them cry the Lions runne away and when the mothers finde their young ones imbrued in their owne bloud they themselues are so inraged that they kill them and so retire from them The cruelty of the female to their wouÌ„ded Calues Solinâ—s Stat. Sebâ—si after which time the Lions returne and eate their flesh They will not indure the sauour of a Mouse but refuse the meat which they haue run ouer in the riuer Ganges of India there are blew Wormes of sixty cubits long hauing two armes these when the Elephants come to drinke in that riuer take their trunks in their handes and pull them off There are Dragons among the Aethiopians which are thirty yards or paces long these haue no name among the inhabitants but Elephant-killers And among the Indians also there is an inbred and natiue hatefull hostility betwixte Dragons and Elephants Aelianus for which cause the Dragons being not ignorant that the Elephants feed vpon the fruites and leaues of green trees doe secretly conuay them selues into them or to the toppes of rockes couering their hinder part with leaues and letting his head and fore part hang downe like a rope on a suddaine when the Elephant commeth to crop the top of the tree she leapeth into his face and diggeth out his eies and because that reuenge of malice is to little to satisfie a Serpent she twineth her gable-like-body about the throat of the amazed Elephant and so strangleth him to death Againe they marke the footsteps of the Elephant when he goeth to feed and so with their tailes net in and intangle his legs and feet when the Elephant perceiueth and feeleth them he putteth downe his trunke to remoue and vnty their knots and ginnes then one of them thrusteth his poisoned stinging-head into his Nostrils and so stop vp his breath the other prick and gore his tender-belly-parts Some againe meet him and flye vpon his eies and pull them foorth so that at the last he must yeeld to their rage and fall downe vpon them killing them in his death by his fall whom he could not resist or ouercome being aliue and this must be vnderstood that forsomuch as Elephants go togither by flockes and heards the subtill Dragons let the foremost passe and set vpon the hindmost that so they may not be oppressed with multitude Also it is reported that the blood of an Elephant is the coldest blood in the world and that Dragons in the scorching heate of Summer cannot get any thing to coole them except this blood for which cause they hide themselus in riuers and brooks whether the Elephants come to drinke and when he putteth downe his trunke they take hold thereof and instantly in great numbers leape vp vnto his eare which is naked bare and without defence where out they sucke the blood of the Elephant vntill he fall downe dead and so they perish both together Of this blood commeth that ancient Cinnabaris Of Cinnabaris or the best red colour made by commixture of the blood of Elephants and Draggons both together which alone is able and nothing but it to make the best representation of blood in painting Some haue corrupted it with Goats-blood and call it Milton and Mimum and Monochroma it hath a most rare and singuler vertue against all poysons beside the vnmatcheable property aforesaid These Serpents or Dragons are bred in Taprobona in whose heads are many pretious stones with such naturall seales or figuratiue impressions as if they were framed by the hande of man for Podisippus and Tzetzes affirme that they haue seen one of them taken out of a Dragons head hauing vpon it the liuely and artificial stampe of a Chariot The fight of Elephants Pliny Elephants are enimies to wilde Bulles and the Rhinocerots for in the games of Pompey when an Elephant and a Rhinoceros were brought together the Rhinoceros ranne instantly and whet his horne vppon a stone and so prepared himselfe to fight striking most of all at the belly of the Elephant because he knewe that it was the tenderest and most penetrable part of the body The Rhinoceros was as long as the Elephant but the legges thereof were much shorter and as the Rhinocerotes sharpen their hornes vppon the stones
Water spanniel 170 The Fisher 171 The Sheapheards Dog 172 The Mastiue or Bandog 173 The Butchers Dog 174 Curs of all sorts 177 E. Eale 190 Elephant 190 Elkâ— 211 F. Ferret 217 Fitch or Pool-cat 219 Foxe 220 Crucigeran Foxe 222 G. Gennet Kat. 228 Goates Goates vulgar 230 Mambrine Goats 235 Deere-Goates 143 Wilde Goat 144 Kyd. 147 Gulon 161 Gorgon 162 H. Hare 164 Hedghog 177 Horse Horse vulgar 281 Stallions and Mares 295 Hunting Horses 321 Running or race Horses 322 Geldings 324 Carreering Horses 324 Packe Horses 325 Wilde Horses 325 Hippelaphus 236 Sea Horse 328 Hyaena Hyaena vulgar 436 Papio or Dabuh 439 Crocuta 440 Mantichora 441 I. Ibex 445 Ichneumon or Pharoes Mouse 449 L. Lamia or Phayrye 452 Lyon 454 Linx 488 M. Marten or Marder 495 Mole 498 Mice Vulgar Mouse 503 Rat. 519 Water Rat. 520 Aâ—pine Mouse 521 Dormouse 526 Hamster Mouse 529 Norician Mouse 532 Pontique Mouse 532 Flying Mouse 533 Shrew or Erd Shrew 534 Wilde field Mouse 542 Wood Mouse 544 Hasell Mouse 545 Lascett Mouse 546 Sorex 546 Indian Mouse 548 Muske cat 551 Mule 556 N. Neades 567 Ounce 568 Orynx 570 The Otter 571 P. Panther 575 Poephages 587 Porcupine 588 Reiner or Ranger Rhinocerot 595 S. Su and Subus 660 Arabian Sheepe 600 Ramme 631 Weather Sheepe 638 Lambe 640 Musmon 642 Strepsiceros 655 Squirrell 657 â—etulian Squirrell 659 Vulgar Swyne 562 Wilde Boare 694 T Tatus 705 Tiger 707 V Vnicorne 711 Vre-Oxe 721 Libian Vre-Oxe 724 Indian Vre-Oxe 744 W Weasell 725 Wolfe 734 Sea Wolfe 746 Z Zebell or Saball 75â— Zibet or Ciuet cat 756 Another Alphabeticall Table directing the Reader to the story of euery Beast A. AFfrican Bugill 59 Alborach 32 Alpine Mouse 521 Antalope 1 Ape vulgar 2 Arabyan Sheepe 600 Asse 20 Axis 32 B Baboun 10 Badger Brocke or Gray 33 Beare 55 Beare ape 19 Beauer 44 Befi 29 Bison 50 Bloud-Hound 150 Bonassus 53 Buffe 56 Bugle 57 Bull. 61 Burdones 29 Butchers Dog 174 C. Cacus 91 Calse 88 Callitriche 8 Camels 93 Camelopardall 100 Campe. 102 Carreering Horses 324 Cat. 102 Cow 71 Colus 108 Cony 109 Crucigeran Foxe 222 Crocuta 440 Curs of all sorts 177 D. Dabuh or Papio 439 Deere-Goates 143 Dictyes 136 Dogges 137 Dormouse 526 E. Eale 190 Elephant 190 Elke 211 F. Fallow Deere 113 Ferret 217 Fieldmouse 542 Fisher dog 171 Fitch or Pool-cat 219 Flyeng Mouse 533 Foxe 220 Foxe-ape 19 G. Gasehound 167 Gennet Kat. 228 Geldings 324 Greyhound 144 Ginnus 29 Goates vulgar 230 Gorgon 162 Gulon 161 H. Hare 164 Harier 165 Hart and Hinde 121 Hamster mouse 529 Hasell mouse 547 Hedghog 177 Hinnus 29 Hippelaphus 236 Horse vulgar 281 Hound 149 Hunting Horses 321 Hyaena vulgar 436 I. Ibex 44â— Ichneumon 449 Innus 29 Indian Asse 32 Indian Pig cony 112 Indian mouse 548 Indian Vre-Oxe 724 K Kidde 147 L. Lambe 641 Lamia or Phayrye 452 Lascet Mouse 546 The Leymmer 168 Lyon 454 Linx 488 Lybian Vre-Oxe 724 M. Mungrels 154 Mambrine Goats 235 Mantichora 441 Martenor Marder 495 Martine Ape 7 Mares see Stallions Mannus Mannulus 29 Mastiue dog 173 Maelitaean Dogs 161 Mimick or Getulian Dog 161 Mole 498 Monster 15 Mouse Vulgar 503 Mule 556 Munkey 6 Musk-cat 551 Musmon 642 N Neades 567 Noruegian mouse 532 Noruegian Ape 16 O Oryx 570 Otter 571 Ounce 568 P Packe Horses 325 Pan Ape 16 Panther 575 Poephagus 587 Pontique Mouse 532 Pocuspine 885 R Ramme 631 Rat. 519 Reyner or Ranger 612 Rhinoceros 595 Roe Bucke 114 Running or race Horses 322 S Ape Sagoin 18 Satyre Ape 13 Sphinx 17 Scythian Asses 31 Scotian Bugle 52 Sea Horse 328 Sea Wolfe 759 Setter Dog 169 Sheapheards Dog 172 Shrew mouse 534 Sheepe 598 Sorex 546 Spanniel 153 Squirrels 657 Stallions and Mares 295 Strepsiceros 655 Swyne 562 Tartarine 12 Tatus 705 Terriar 165 Tyger 707 Theeuish Dog 169 Tumbler 168 V. Vnicorne 711 Vre Oxe 721 W. Water spanniel 170 Water rat Weasell 725 wilde Bore 694 Wilde cat 107 Wilde Goat 144 Wilde Horse 325 wilde mice 544 wilde field-mice 542 Woodmouse 545 VVolfe 734 Z. Zebell or Sable 755 Zibet or Ciuet Kat. 756 FINIS THE HISTORIE OF FOVRE FOOTED BEASTES THE ANTALOPE THE Antalope called in Latine Calopus and of the Graecians Analopos or Aptolos Of this Beast there is no mention made among the auncient Writers except Suidas and the Epistle of Alexander vnto Aristotle interpreted by Cornelius Nepotius They are bred in India and Syria The contrey of their abod and Breed neere the Riuer Euphrates and delight much to drinke of the cold water thereof Their bodie is like the body of a Roe and they haue hornes growing forth of the crowne of their head which are very long and sharpe so that Alexander affirmed they pierced through the sheeldes of his Souldiers and fought with them very irefully at which time his company slew as he trauelled to India eight thousand fiue hundred and fifty which great slaughter may be the occasion why they are so rare and sildome seene to this day by cause thereby the breeders and meanes of their continuance which consisted in their multitude were weakened and destroyed Their hornes are great and made like a saw and they with them can cut asunder the braunches of Osier or small trees whereby it commeth to passe that many times their necks are taken in the twists of the falling boughes whereat the Beast with repining cry bewrayeth himselfe to the Hunters and so is taken The vertues of this Beast are vnknowne and therefore Suidas sayth an Antalope is but good in parte OF THE APE AN Ape called in Latine Simia and sometimes Simim and Simiolus Cycero Claudian Martial Horace of the Greeke word Simos Viz signifieng the flatnesse of the Nostrils for so are an Apes and called of the Haebrewes Koph and plurally Kophin as is by S. Ierom translated 1 King 10.22 From whence it may be probably coniectured came the Latine words Cepi Cephi for Apes that haue tailes Of the name Sometimes they are called of the Haebrewes Bogiah and of the Chaldees Kophin The Italians Samada Maionio Bertuccia and a Munkey Gatto Maimone The auncient Graecians Pithecos and the later Mimon and Arkobizanes by reason of his imitation The Moores Bugia the Spaniards Mona or Ximio the French Singe the Germaines Aff the Flemishe Simme or Schimmekell the Illirians Opieze and generally they are held for a subtill ironical ridiculous and vnprofitable Beast The smal vse of apes whose flesh is not good for meate as a sheepe neither his backe for burthen as an Asses nor yet commodious to keepe a house like a Dog but of the Graecians termed Gelotopoion made for laughter * Athanaeus Anacharsis the Philosopher being at a banquet wherein diuers iesters were brought in to make them merry yet neuer laughed among the residue at length was brought in an Ape Apes made for laughter at the sight whereof hee laughed hartily and being
Bohemians Nedwed the Polontans Vuluuer and the attributes of this beast are many among authors both Greeke and Latine Epithites of the beare as Aemonian beares armed filthy deformed cruell dreadfull fierce greedy Callidonian Erymanthean bloody heauy night-ranging lybican menacing Numidian Ossaean headlong rauening rigide and terrible beare all which serue to set forth the nature heereof as shall be afterward in particular discoursed First Of the kind of Beares Agricola Albertus therefore concerning seuerall kinds of beares it is obserued that there is in generall two a greater and a lesser and these lesser are more apt to clime trees then the other neither do they euer grow to so great a stature as the other Besides there are Beares which are called Amphibia because they liue both on the land and in the sea hunting and catching fish like an Otter or Beauer and these are white coloured In the Ocean Islands toward the North there are bears of a great stature fierce and cruell who with their forefeet do breake vp the hardest congealed yse on the sea or other great Waters and draw out of those holes great aboundance of fishes Olâ—uis and so in other frozen seas are many such like hauing blacke clawes liuing for the most part vpon the seas except tempestuous weather driue them to the land In the Easterne parts of India there is a beast in proportion of body verie like a Beare yet indued with no other quality of that kind being neither so wild nor rauenous nor strong and it is called a Formicarian Beare A Formicarian Beare Cardanus for God hath so prouided that whereas that countrey is aboundantly annoyed with the Emmets or Ants that beast doth so prey and feede vpon them that by the strength and vertuous humour of his tongue the sillie poore inhabitants are exceedingly relieued from their greeuious and daungerous numbers Beares are bred in many countries as in the Heluetian alpine region where they are so strong and full of courage Countrey of breed that they can teare in pieces both Oxen and Horsses for which cause the inhabitants study by all means to take them Likewise there are Beares in Persia which doe rauen beyond all measure and all other so also the beares of Nâ—midia Marcellinus which are of a more elegant forme and composition then the residue Profuit ergo nihil misero quod communius vrsos Figebat Numidas Albena nudus arena And wheras Pliny affirmeth that there are no beares in Affrick he mistook that country for Creet and so some say that in that Island be no Wolues vipers or other such venemous creatures whereof the Poets giue a vaine reason because Iupiter was borne there but we know also that there be no beares bred in England In the countrey of Arabia from the promontory Dira to the South are beares which liue vpon eating of flesh Volaterranâ— being of a yellowish colour which do farre excel all other bears both in actiuity or swiftnes and in quantity of body Among the Roxolani and Lituanians are beares which being tamed are presents for princes Aristotle in his wonders reporteth a secret in the natures of Beares that there are white beares in Misia which being eagerly hunted do send forth such a breath that putrifieth immediately the flesh of the Dogges and whatsoeuer other beast commeth within the sauour thereof it maketh the flesh of them not fit to be eaten but if either men or dogs approach or come nigh them they vomit forth such aboundance of Plegme that either the hunters are thereby choaked or blinded Thracia also breedeth white Beares and the King of Aethiopia in his Haebrew Epistle which he wrote to the Bishop of Rome affirmeth that there are Beares in his countrey In Musconia are Beares both of a snow white yellow and dusky colour and it hath bene seene that the Noble womens chariots drawne by six horsses haue beene couered with the skinnes of white beares from the pasterne to the head and as all other creatures doe bring forth some white and some blacke so also do Beares who in generall doe breede and bring forth their young in all cold countries some of a dusky and some of a browne blacke colour A Beare is of a most venereous and lustfull disposition Lust of beare for night and day the females with most ardent inflamed desires doe prouoke the males to copulation and for this cause at that time they are most-fierce and angry Phillippus Cosseus of Constance did most confidently tell mee that in the Mountaines of Sauoy a Beare carried a young maide into his denne by violence Gillius A History where in venereous manner he had the carnall vse of her body and while he kept her in his denne he dailye went foorth and brought her home the best Apples and other fruites he coulde get presenting them vnto her for her meat in very amorous sort but alwaies when hee went to forrage hee rouled a huge great stone vppon the mouth of his denne that the Virgin shoulde not escape away at length her parentes with long search founde their little Daughter in the Beares den who deliuered her from that sauage and beastuall captiuity Time of their copulation The time of their copulation is in the beginning of winter althogh sometime in Summer but such young ones seldome liue yet most commonly in February or Ianuary The manner of their copulation is like to a mans the male mouing himselfe vpon the belly of the female which lyeth on the earth flat vpon the backe and either embraceth other with their forefeet they remaine verie long time in that act inasmuch as if they were verie fat at their first entrance they disioine not themselues againe till they he made leane Immediately after they haue conceiued they betake themselues to their dennes Pliny where they without meate grow very fat especially the males onely by sucking their fore-feet When they enter into their denne they conuey themselues in backward a secret that so they may put out their footsteps from the sight of the hunters The males giue great honor to the females great with young during the time of their secrecie so that Honor to the female although they lie togither in one caue yet doe they part it by a diuision or small ditch in the midst neither of them touching the other The nature of all of them is to auoid cold and therfore in the winter time do they hide themselues chusing rather to suffer famine then cold auoiding of cold lying for the most part three or foure moneths togither and neuer see the light whereby their guts grow so empty that they are almost closed vp and sticke togither When they first enter into their denne they betake themselues to quiet and rest sleeping without any awaking for the first fourteene daies so that it is thought an easie stroke cannot awake them But how long the females go
with young is not certaine Time of bearing the yong beares some affirm 3. moneths others but 30. daies which is more probable for wild beasts doe not couple themselues being with young except a Hare and a Linx aad the beares being as is already said verie lustull to the intent that they may no longer want the company of their males do violently cast their whelps and so presently after deliuery do after the maner of conies betake themselues to their lust norishing their yong ones both togither this is certaine that they neuer come out of their caues till their young ones be thirtie daies old at the least and Pliny precisely affirmeth The bignesse of a beare-whelpe that they litter the thirtith daie after their conception and for this cause a beare bringeth forth the least whelpe of all other great beastes for their whelpes at their first littering are no bigger then rats nor longer then ones finger And whereas it hath beene beleeued and receiued that the whelpes of bears at their first littering are without all forme and fashion and nothing but a little congealed blood like a lumpe of flesh which afterwarde the old one frameth with her tongue to her owne likenes as Pliny Solinus Aelianus Orus Oppianus and Ouid haue reported yet is the truth most euidently otherwise as by the eye witnes of Ioachimus Rhetichus and other Beares not so vnperfect as some haue reported is disproued onlie it is litterd blind without eies naked without haire and the hinder legs not perfect the forefeet folded vp like a fist and other members deformed by reason of the imoderate humor or moystnes in them which also is one cause why the womb of the beare cannot retaine the seed to the perfection of her young ones Number of yong oneâ— They bring foorth sometimes two and neuer aboue fiue which the old beare dailye keepeth close to her brest so warming them with the heat of her body and the breath of her mouth till they be thirty daies old at what time they come abroad being in the beginning of May which is the third moneth from the spring The old ones being almost dazled with long darkenes comming into light againe seeme to stagger and reele too and fro and then for the straightnesse of their guts by reason of their long fasting doe eat the herbe Arum commonly called in English Wake-Robbin or Calues-foot being of very sharpe and tart taste Remedy in Nature which enlargeth their guts and so being recouered they remaine all the time their young are with them more fierce and cruell then at other times And concerning the same Arum called also Dracunculus and Oryx there is a pleasaunt vulgar tale whereby some haue conceiued that Beares eat this herbe before their lying secret and by vertue thereof without meat or sence of cold they passe away the whole winter in sleepe There was a certaine cow-heard in the Mountains of Heluetia which comming downe a hill with a great caldron on his backe he saw a beare eating of a root which he had pulled vp with his feet a fabulous tale yet vulgarly beleeued the cowheard stood still till the beare was gone and afterward came to the place where the beast had eaten the same and finding more of the same roote did likewise eat it he had no sooner tasted thereof but he had such a desire to sleepe that hee could not containe himselfe but he must needs lie down in the way and there fell a sleep hauing couered his heade with the caldron to keepe himselfe from the vehemency of colde and there slept all the Winter time without harme and neuer rose againe till the spring time Which fable if a man will beleeue then doubtlesse this hearbe may cause the Beares to be sleepers not for fourteene dayes but for fourescore dayes together The meat of Beares The ordinary food of Beares is fish for the Water-beare and others will eate fruites Apples Grapes Leaues and Pease and will breake into bee-hiues sucking out the hony Horat Vespertinus circumgemit vrsus ouile Likewise Bees Snayles and Emmets and flesh if it bee leane or ready to putrifie but if a Beare doe chaunce to kill a swine or a Bull or Sheepe he eateth them presentlie whereas other beasts eate not hearbes if they eate flesh likewise they drinke water but not like other beastes neither sucking it or lapping it but as it were euen bitinge at it Of the quantity partes of Beares Some affirme that Beares doe waxe or growe as long as they liue that there haue beene seene some of them fiue cubits long yea I my selfe saw a Beares skinne of that length and broader then any Oxes skinne The parts or members The head of a Beare is his weakest part as the hande of a Lyon is the strongest for by a small blow on his head he hath often bene strucken deade the bones of the head being verie thinne and tender yea more tender then the beake of a Parrot The mouth of a Beare is like a Hogges mouth but longer being armed with teeth on both sides like a saw and standing deepe in his mouth they haue verie thicke lippes for which cause hee cannot easily or hastily with his teeth breake asunder the hunters nettes except with his forefeet His necke is short like a Tygers and a Lyons apt to bend downeward to his meat his bellie is verie large being vniforme and next to it the intrals as in a Wolfe It hath also foure speanes to her Paps The genitall of a Beare after his death waxeth as hard as horn his knees and elbowes are like to an Apes for which cause they are not swift or nimble his feete are like handes and in them and his loines is his greatest strength by reason whereof he sometimes setteth himselfe vpright vppon their hinder legges the pasterne of his legge being fleshy like a cammels which maketh them vnfit for trauell they haue sharpe clawes but a verye small taile as all other longe hayred creatures haue They are exceeding full of fat or Larde-greace which some vse superstitiouslie beaten with oile a superstitius vse of Beares larde or fat wherewith they annoint their grape-sickles when they go to vintage perswading themselues that if no bodie know thereof their tender vine braunches shall neuer be consumed by catterpillers Other attribute this to the vertue of Beares blood and Theophrastus affirmeth that if beares grease be kept in a vessell at such time as the beares lie secret A secret it will either fill it vp or cause it to runne ouer The flesh of beares is vnfit for meat Meat of beares flesh yet some vse to eat it after it hath bene twice sodde other eat it baked in pasties but the truth is it is better for medicine then food Theophrastus likewise affirmeth that at the time when beares lie secret their dead flesh encreaseth which is kept in houses another
Rasis which was called Ceroma wherewithall Wrastlers and Prize-players were anointed but when a foolish and heauy man was annoynted they said ironically Bos ad ceroma Againe the folly of this beast appearerh by another Greeke prouerbe which saith that An Oxe raiseth dust which blindeth his owne eyes to signifie that foolish and indiscrete men stirre vp the occasion of their owne harmes The manifold Epithets giuen this beast in Greeke and Latine by sundry authors doe demonstratiuely shew the manifold conditions of this beast as that it is called a Plower Wilde an earth tiller brazen footed by reason of his hard hoofes Cerebrons more brayne then wit horned stubborne horne-striking hard rough vntamed deuourer of grasse yoake-bearer fearefull ouertamed drudges vvry-faced slovv and ill fauored vvith many other such notes of their nature ordination and condition There remaine yet of this discourse of Oxen tvvo other necessary Tractats The naturall vses of the seueral parts of Oxen. the one naturall the other morral That vvhich is natural contayns the seueral vses of their particular parts first for their flesh which is held singular for norishment for which cause after their labour which bringeth leannesse they vse to put them by for sagination or as it is sayd in English for feeding which in all countries hath a seuerall manner or custom How to fattē cattaile Sotion affirmeth that if you giue your cattell when they come fresh from their pasture Cabbage leaues beaten small with some sharpe vineger poured among them and afterward chaffe winowed in a siefe and mingled with branne for fiue daies together it will much fatten and encrease their flesh and the sixth day ground barley encreasing the quantity by little and little for sixe dayes together Now the best time to feede them in the Winter is about the cock-crowing and afterward in the morning twy-light and soone after that let them drinke in the Summer let them haue their first meate in the morning and their second seruice at noone and then drinke after that second meate or eating and their third meate before euening againe and so let them drinke the second time It is also to be obserued that their water in winter time be warmed and in the Summer time colder And while they feede you must often wash the roofe and sides of their mouth for therein will grow certaine Wormes which will annoy the beast and hinder his eating and after the washing rubbe his tongue wel with salt If therefore they be carefully regarded they wil grow very fat especially if they be not ouer aged or very young at the time of their feeding for by reason of age their teeth grow loose and fall out and in youth they cannot exceede in fatnesse bycause of their groweth aboue all heighfers and barren Kye will exceed in fatnesse for Varro affirmeth that he saw a field Mouse bring forth young ones in the fat of a cowe hauing eaten into her body she being aliue the selfe same thing is reported of a Sow in Arcadia A strange report of a fat Cow if true Kye will also grow fat when they are with calfe especially in the middest of that time The Turks vse in their greatest feastes and Marriages to rost or seeth an Oxe whole putting in the oxes belly a whole Sovv and in the Sowes belly a Goose and in the Gooses belly an Egge to note forth their plenty in great and small things but the best flesh is of a young oxe and the worst of an olde one for it begetteth an ill iuyce or concoction especially if they which eate it be troubled vvith a cough or reumy fleame or if the party be in a consumption or for a woman that hath vlcers in her belly the tongue of an oxe or cow salted and slit asunder is accompted a very delicate dishe vvhich the priestes of Mercury sayd did belong to them bycause they vvere the seruants of speech and hovvsoeuer in al sacrifices the beasts tongue vvas refused as a prophane member yet these priests made choise thereof vnder colour of sacrifice to feede their dainty stomacks The hornes of oxen by art of man are made very flexible and straight whereof are made combes hasts for kniues and the ancients haue vsed them for cups to drinke in and for this cause was Bacchus painted with hornes and Crater was taken for a cup which is deriued of Kera a horne In like manner the first Trumpets were made of hornes as Virgill alludeth vnto this sentence Rauco strepuerunt cornua cantu and now a daies it is become familier for the carriage of Gun-pouder in warre It is reported by some husbandmen that if seede be cast into the earth out of an Oxes horne called in old time cerasbola by reason of a certaine coldnesse it well neuer spring vp well out of the earth at the least not so well as when it is sowed with the hand of man Their skinne is vsed for shooes Garments and Gumme because of a spongy matter therein contayned also to make Gun-pouder and it is vsed in nauigation when a shot hath pierced the sides of the ship presently they clap a raw Oxe hyde to the mouth of the breach which instantly keepeth the Water from entring in likewise they were wont to make Bucklers or shieldes of the hides of Oxen and Bugils and the seuen-folded or doubled shield of Aiax was nothing else but a shield made of an Oxe hyde so many times layed one piece vpon another which caused Homer to call it Sacos heptaboeion Of the teeth of Oxen I know no other vse but scraping and making Paper smooth with them their gall being sprinkled among seede which is to be sowen maketh it come vppe quickly and killeth field-mise that tast of it and it is the bayne or poyson of those creatures so that they will not come neere to it no not in bread if they discerne it and birds if they eate corne touched with an Oxes gall put into hot water first of all and the lees of Wyne they wax thereby astonished likewise Emmets will not come vppon those places where there remaineth any sauour of this gall and for this cause they anoynt heerewith the rootes of trees The dung of Oxen is beneficiall to Bees if the Hyue bee annoynted therewith for it killeth Spiders Gnats and drone-bees and if good heede be not taken it will worke the like effect vpon the Bees themselues for this cause they vse to smother or burne this kinde of dung vnder the mouthes of the Hiues in the spring time which so displayeth and disperseth all the little enemy-bees in Bee-hiues that they neuer breed againe There is a prouerbe of the stable of Angia which Angia was so rich in cattell that he defiled the countrey with their dung whereupon that prouerbe grew when Hercules came vnto him he promised him a part of his countrey to purge that stable which was not clensed by the yearely labour of 3000.
haue heard that there were Harts horns in an Apothicaries shop of Antwerp which had euerie one fifteene branches vpon one stem which if it be true it goeth beyond al experience Euery yeare in the month of Aprill they loose their hornes and so hauing lost them The time of loosing their hornes Pliny they hide themselues in the day time inhabiting the shadowy places to auoide the annoyance of flies and feed onely during that time in the night Their new hornes come forth like bunches at the first and afterward by the encrease of the Suns heate they grow more hard couered with a rough skinne which the hunters for honours sake call a Veluet head and as that skinne dryeth they daily try the strength of their new heade vppon trees which not only scrapeth off the roughnes but by the pain they feel in rubbing them they are taught how long to forbear the company of their fellows for at last when in their chafing or fretting of their new horne against a tree they can no more feele any smart or greefe in them they take it for high time to forsake their solitary dwellings and return againe to their former condition like one that is supplied with new arms after the loosing of his old The tender and new hornes the Germans call Morchi and Kolben these being taken from the beast are accounted among great noble men a delicate dish of meat Cyprius is said to haue a Hart with foure hornes Aeliaenus a history of a Hart with 4. horns which was called Nicocreos and by him dedicated to Apollo which I do therefore remember in this place because it is seldome seene that a Hart can bear naturally aboue two horns Authors do generallie affirm that when a Hart hath lost his hornes he hideth them in some secret place because he vnderstandeth some secret vertues are contained in them which mankind seeketh for and therefore he either enuying the good of other or fearing least they bewray him heereafter to hunters taketh the best care and prouidence his discretion can affoorde that they neuer come to the handling of men When the people asked Apollo what they shoulde doe with Procles their Tyrant the Oracle answerd that he should go to that place where Harts cast their horns whereby it was gathered that he should be slaine and buried in the earth and this caused the prouerbe Vbi cerui abijciunt cornua to signifie a desperate busines yet could it not be agreed whether the Hart make more account of his right horne or his left and therefore Aristotle affirmeth Whether the right or left horn be most pretious that the left horne is neuer found and Pliny that the right horn is neuer found This difference may be reconciled with ease for right and left are so tearmed for three causes or three manner of waies First properly in all creatures according to the beginning of motion Secondlie for similitude or likenesse as the right and left side of Images statues c. Thirdly improperly when the right side of one thing standeth against the left side of another being opposite as when two men stande face to face and by this reason may the left horne of Aristotle and the right horne of Pliny signifie all one thing but we know that the hornes of harts are found yearly both in fields woods The wilde Harts of Sarmatia neere Turky haue the greatest hornes of all other Of the horns of Turkey Harts for it hath bene proued that one paire of them haue waighed forty poundes Troy weight and aboue and there they loose their hornes in March neither do they fall off together but first one and then the other and after ther first falling it is manifest that a certaine worm getteth on them and maketh vppon them many circles and little furrowes whereby the roote or basis being weakened the horne groweth very white in that place Bonarus and yet not without some apperaunce of blood remaining which cleaueth to it from the first falling off for when the head of this Beast is disarmed there yssueth blood from the scul and in appearance the naked place is like a wound and yet it is wonderful to marke that within 3. daies the same is heald and filed with the blood which congealeth in that place first to a sinnue and afterward to a hard bone so as in August at the farthest Orus The reasons why Hartes and Deere loose their horns yearly the hornes are perfect and therefore the Egyptians to describe a long-liued-man picture a Hart loosinge his hornes euery yeare and new comming in their place If any man be desirous to know the reasons why onely beasts of this kind loose their hornes in this maner I wil not spare my paines to set downe the best which Authors haue rendred for this woonder of nature First because of the matter whereof they consist for it is dry and earthy like the substance of green leaues which fal off yearly wanting glewing or holding moisture to continue them and for this cause the horne of a hart cannot be bent Secondly from the place they grow vpon for they are not rooted vpon the scull but onely within the skin 3. from their efficient cause for they are hardned both with the heat of summer and cold of winter by meanes whereof the pores to receiue their nourishing liquor are vtterly shut vp and stopped so as of necessity their natiue heat dyeth which falleth not out in other Beasts whose hornes are for the most part hollow and fitted for longer continuance but these are of lesser and the new bunches swelling vp toward the spring do thrust off the old hornes being holpe either by the boughes of trees by the weight of the horns or by the willing excussion of the beast that beareth them Democritus and other as Gillius and Aelianus giue other reasons but because they seeme to be far fetched I wil omit them A natural secret of gelded Deere Aristotle Pliny Solinus Yet by the waie it is to be noted that if a hart be libbed or gelded when he is yong he neuer beareth hornes or verie smal ones and if his horns be vpon him at the time of gelding they neuer waxe lesse or greater or fall off The hinds neuer beare hornes at all as some haue affirmd but I rather beleeue Caesar Maximilian and Zenodotus who affirm vpon their knoledge that hinds in some countries haue hornes like the males as likewise it is obserued in the Elephants of India and for this cause the Poets expressed the hinde which nourished Telephus with hornes and that which Hercules tooke with Golden hornes and it is for certaine that in Ethyopia and Lybia both sexes haue hornes The face of this beast is fleshy his Nostrils flat and his necke very long his eares The seuerall parts some greater and some smaller but in the mount Elaphus and Hellespont they are slit It is obserued that when a Hart pricketh
lye a certaine humour commeth foorth like a gall Wherefore Aelianus sayth he hath his gall in his maw-gutte which is so full of sinewes that one would thinke he had foure bellies in this receiueth he his meate hauing no other receptacle for it his intralles are like vnto a Swines but much greater His Liuer foure times so greate as an Oxes and so all the residue excepte the Melte he hath two pappes a little beside his breast vnder his shoulders and not betweene his hinder legges or loynes they are very small and cannot be seene on the side Aristotle The reasons hereof are giuen first that he hath but two pappes because he bringeth forth but one at a time and they stand vnder his shoulders like an Apes because hee hath no hoofes but distinct feet like a mannes and also bicause from the breaste floweth more aboundance of milke The genitall parte is like a Horses but lesser then the proportion of his bodie affoordeth the stones are not outwardly seene because they cleaue to his raines But the Female hath her genitall betwixte her thighes the forlegges are much longer then the hinder legges and the feet be greater His legges are of equall quantity both aboue and beneathe the knees and it hath anckle bones verie lowe The articles doe not ascende so high as in other creatures but kept low neere the earth He bendeth his hinder legs like a mans when he sitteth but by reason of his great waight hee is not able to bend on both sides together 〈◊〉 Gillâ—â—s but either leaneth to the right hand or to the left and so sleepeth It is false that they haue no ioynts or articles in their legs for when they please they can vse bend and moue them but after they grow old they vse not to lie downe or straine them by reason of their great weight but take their rest leaning to a tree and if they did not bend their legs they could neuer go any ordinary and stayed pace Their feet are round like a horsses but so as they reach from the middle euery way two spans length and are as broad as a bushell hauing fiue distinct toes vpon each foot the which toes are very little clouen to the intent that the foot may be stronger and yet parted that when he treadeth vppon soft grounde the weyght of his body presse not downe the legge to deepe Hee hath no nailes vpon his toes his taile is like an Oxes taile hauing a little haire at the end and the residue thereof peeled and without haire He hath not any bristly hairs to couer his back and thus much for their seuerall parts and their vses their inward natural parts There is not any creature so capable of vnderstanding as an Elephant and therefore it is requisite to tarry somewhat the longer in expressing the seuerall properties and naturall qualities thereof which sundry and variable inclinations cannot choose but bring great delight to the reader They haue a wonderfull loue to their owne Countrey so as although they be neuer so well delighted with diuers meats and ioyes in other places yet in memory thereof they send forth teares Aelianus Tzetzes The Places of their abod and they loue also the waters riuers and marishes so as they are not vnfitly called Riparij such as liue by the riuers sides although they cannot swim by reason of their great and heauy bodies vntill they be taught Also they neuer liue solitary but in great flocks except they be sicke or watch their yong ones and for either of these they remaine aduenturous vnto death Pliny the eldest leadeth the herd and the second driueth them forward if they meet any man they giue him way and goe out of his sight Leo Afer Their voice is called by the word Barrire that is to bray and thereupon the Elephants themselus are called Barri Festus Philomelae avthor for his voice commeth out of his mouth and nostrils togither like as when a man speaketh breathing wherefore Aristotle calleth it rawcity or hoarsnes like the low sound of a Trumpet this sound is verie terrible in battailes as shall be afterward declared They liue vpon the fruits of plants and rootes and with their truncks and heads ouerthrow the tops of trees The meat of wilde Eleph Pliny Solinus and eat the boughes and bodies of them and many times vpon the leaues of trees he deuoureth Chamaeleons whereby he is poisoned and dieth if hee eat not immediately a wilde Oliue They eat earth often without harme but if they eat it sildome it is hurtfull and procureth paine in their bâ—lâ—ies so also they eat stones They are so louing to their fellowes that they will not eat their meat alone but hauing found a prey they go and inuite the residue to their feastes and cheere more like to reasonable ciuill men Aelianus Hermolaus then vnreasonable brute beasts There are certaine noble melons in Aethiopia which the Elephants being sharpe-smelling-beastes do winde a great way off and by the conduct of their noses come to those Gardens of Melons and there eat and deuour them When they are tamed they will eate Barlie either whole or grounde of whole at one time is giuen them nine Macedonian Bushels but of meale six and of drinke eyther wine or water thirty Macedonian pintes at a time that is fourteen gallons but this is obserued that they drinke not wine except in warre when they are to fight but water at all times whereof they will not tast except it be muddy and not cleare for they auoid cleare water Aelianus Simocratus A secret Pliny loathing to see their owne shaddow therein and therefore when the Indians are to passe the water with their Elephants they choose darke and cloudy nightes wherein the moone affordeth no light If they perceiue but a mouse run ouer their meat they will not eat thereof for there is in them a great hatred of this creature Also they wil eat dryed Figges Grapes Onions Bulrushes Palmes and Iuy leaues There is a Region in India called Phalacrus A secret in a countrey of India which signifieth Balde because of an herbe growing therein which causeth euery liuing thing that eateth therof to loose both horn and haire and therefore no man can be more industrious or warie to auoide those places then is an Elephant and to beare euery greene thing growing in that place when he passeth thorough it Aelianus It will forbeare drinke eight daies together and drinke wine to drunkennesse like an Ape It is delighted aboue measure with sweet sauours oyntments and smelling flowers for which cause their keepes will in the Summer time lead them into the medowes of flowers where they of themselues will by the quicknes of their smelling Their loue to sweet flowers Aelianus chuse out and gather the sweetest flowers and put them into a basket if their keeper haue any which being filled like daintie and neat men they
of taking Elephants for they set on the ground very strong charged bent-bowes which are kept by manye of their strongest young men and so when the flockes of Elephants passe by they shoote their sharp arrowes dipped in the gall of Serpents and wound some one of them and follow him by the blood vntill he be vnable to make resistance There are three at euery bowe two which hold it and one that draweth the string Other againe watch the trees whereunto the beast leaneth when he sleepeth neere some Waters and the same they cutte halfe asunder whereunto when hee declyneth his bodye the Tree is ouerturned and the Beast also and beeing vnable to rise againe because of the short Nerues and no flexions in his Legs there he lyeth till the Watch-man come and cut off his head Aristotle describeth another manner of taking Elephants in this sorte The Hunter saith he getteth vp vpon a tamed Elephant and followeth the Wilde one till hee haue ouertaken it then commaundeth he the tame beast to strike the other and so continueth chasing and beating him til he haue wearied him and broken his vntameable nature Then doth the rider leape vppon the wearied and tyred Elephant and with a sharpe pointed Sickle doth gouerne him after the tame one and so in short space he groweth gentle And some of them when the ryder alighteth from their backes grow Wilde and fierce againe for which cause they binde their forelegges with strong bands and by this meanes they take both great and small old and young ones but as the old ones are more wilde and obstinate and so difficult to be taken so the younger keepe so much with the elder that a like impossibility or difficulty interposeth it selfe from apprehending them In the Caspian lake there are certaine fishes called Oxyrinchi out of whom is made such a firme glew Gillius that it will not be dissolued in ten daies after it hath taken hold for which cause they vse it in the taking of Elephants There are in the Island Zeira many Elephants whom they take on this manner In the Mountaines they make certaine cloysters in the earth hauing two great Trees standing at the mouth of the cloysters and in those trees they hang vp a great par-cullis gate within that Cloyster they place a tame female Elephant at the time of their vsuall copulation the wild Elephants doe speedily winde her and make to her and so at the last hauing found the way betwixt the two trees enter into her sometime twenty and sometime thirty at a time then are there two men in the said trees which cut the rope whereby the gate hangeth so it falleth downe and includeth the Elephants where they suffer them alone for sixe or seuen daies without meate whereby they are so infeebled and famished that they are not able to stand vpon their legs Then two or three stronge men enter in amonge them and with great staues and Clubbes be labour and cudgell them till by that meanes they grow tame and gentle and although an Elephant be a monster-great-beast and very subtill yet by these and such like meanes do the inhabitants of India and Aethiopia take many of them with a very small labour to their great aduantage Against these slights of men may be opposed the subtill and cautelous euasions of the beast auoyding all the foot-steps of men if they smell them vpon any herbe or leafe The subtilty of Elephants against their hunters and for their fight with the Hunters they obserue this order First of all they set them foremost which haue the best teeth that so they may not be afraid of Combat and when they are weary by breaking downe of trees they escape and fly away But for their Hunting they know that they are not hunted in India for no other cause then for their teeth and therefore to discourage the hunters they set them which haue the worst teeth before and reserue the strongest for the second encounter for their wisedome or naturall discretion is heerein to be admired that they will so dispose themselues in all their battailes when they are in chase that euer they fight by course and inclose the youngest from perill so that lying vnder the belly of their Dammes they can scarce be seene and when one of them flyeth they all flye away to their vsuall resting places stryuing which of them shall goe foremost And if it at any time they come to a wide and deepe Ditch which they cannot passe ouer without a bridge then one of them descendeth and goeth downe into the Ditch and standeth transuerse or Crosse the same by his great bodye filling vppe the empty partes and the residue passe ouer vpon his backe as vpon a bridge Afterward when they are all ouer they tarry and helpe their fellowe out of the Ditch or Trench againe by this slight or deuise one of them putteth downe to him his Legge and the other in the Ditch windeth his trunke about the same the residue standers by cast in bundels of Sprigs with their mouthes which the Elephant warily and speedily putteth vnder his feete and so raiseth himselfe out of the Trench againe Aelianus Tzetzes Plutarch and departeth with his fellowes But if they fall in and cannot finde any helpe or meanes to come forth they laye aside their naturall Wilde disposition and are contented to take meate and drinke at the handes of men whose presence before they abhorred and being deliuered they thinke no more vpon their former condition but in forgetfulnesse thereof remaine obedient to their deliuerers Being thus taken as it hath beene said it is also expedient to expresse by what Art and meanes they are Cicurated and tamed First of all therefore when they are taken The art of taming elepha Aelianus they are fastened to some Tree or Piller in the earth so as they can neyther kicke backeward nor Leape forwarde and there hunger thirst and famine like twoo most stronge and forcible Ryders abate their naturall wildenesse strength feare and hatred of men Afterward when their keepers perceiue by their deiection of minde that they beginne to be mollified and altered then they giue vnto them meate out of their hands vpon whom the beast doth cast a farre more fauorable and cheerefull eie considering their owne bondage and so at the last necessity frameth them vnto a contented and tractable course and inclination But the Indians by great labour and industry take their young Calues at their Watering places and so leade them away intising them by many allurementes of meate to loue and obey them so as they grow to vnderstand the Indian language but the elder Indian Elephants doe very hardly and sildome grow tame because of their remembrance of their former liberty by any bands and oppression neuerthelesse by instrumentall musicke ioyned with some of their coutrey songs and ditties they abate their fiercenesse and bring downe their high vntractable stomacks so as without all
christians offering sacrifice to nothing but their bellies The church forsaketh them the spirit accurseth them the ciuell world abhorreth them the Lord condemneth them the diuill expecteth them and the fire of hell it selfe is prepared for them and all such deuourers of Gods good creatures to helpe c. To helpe their disgestion for although the Hiena and Gulon and some other monsters are subiect to this gluttonie yet are ther many creatures more in the world who although they be beastes and lacke reason yet can they not by any famine stripes or prouocations be drawne to exceede their naturall appetites or measure in eating or drinking There are of these beastes two kindes The kinds of Gulons distinguished by coulour one blacke and the other like a Wolfe they seldome kill a man or any liue beastes but feede vpon carrion and dead carkasses as is before saide yet sometimes when they are hungry they prey vpon beastes as horses and such like and then they subtlely ascend vp into a tree and when they see a beast vnder the same they leape downe vpon him and destroy him A Beare is afraid to meete them and vnable to match them by reason of their sharpe teeth This beast is tamed and nourished in the courts of Princes for no other cause then for an example of incredible voracitie When he hath filled his belly if he can find no trees growing so neare together as by sliding betwixte them hee may expell his excrements then taketh he an Alder-tree and with his forefeete rendeth the same asunder and passeth through the middest of it for the cause aforesaid When they are wilde men kill them with bowes and guns for no other cause than for their skins which are pretious and profitable for they are white spotted changeably interlined like diuers flowers for which cause the greatest princes and richest nobles vse them in garments in the Winter time The skinnes of Gulons such are the kinges of Polonia Sweue-land Goatland and the princes of Germany neither is there any skinne which will sooner take a colour or more constantly retaine it The outward appearance of the saide skinne is like to adamaskt garment and besides this outward part there is no other memorable thing woorthy obseruation in this rauenous beast and therefore in Germany it is called a foure-footed Vulture OF THE GORGON or strange Lybian Beast AMong the manifold and diuers sorts of Beasts which are bred in Affricke it is thought that the Gorgon is brought foorth in that countrey It is a feareful and terrible beast to behold it hath high and thicke eie-lids The country and description eies not very great but much like an Oxes or Bugils but all fiery-bloudy which neyther looke directly forwarde nor yet vpwards but continuallye downe to the earth and therefore are called in Greeke Catobleponta From the crowne of their head downe to their nose they haue a long hanging mane which maketh them to look fearefully It eateth deaâ—ly and poysonfull hearbs and if at any time he see a Bull or other creature whereof he is afraid he presently causeth his mane to stand vpright and being so lifted vp opening his lips and gaping wide sendeth forth of his throat a certaine sharpe and horrible breath which infecteth and poysoneth the air aboue his head so that all liuing creatures which draw in the breath of that aire are greeuously afflicted thereby loosing both voyce and sight they fall into leathall and deadly convulsions It is bred in Hesperia and Lybia The Poets haue a fiction that the Gorgones were the Daughters of Medusa and Phorcynis Aelianus and are called Steingo and by Hesiodus Stheno and Euryale inhabiting the Gorgadian Ilands in the Aethiopick Ocean ouer against the gardens of Hesperia Medusa is said to haue the haires of his head to be liuing Serpentes against whom Perseus fought and cut off his hed for which cause he was placed in heauen on the North side of the Zodiacke aboue the Waggon and on the left hand holding the Gorgons head The truth is that there were certain Amozonian women in Affricke diuers from the Scithians against whom Perseus made Warre and the captaine of those women was called Medusa whom Perseus ouerthrew and cut off her head and from thence came the Poets fiction discribing it with Snakes growing out of it as is aforesaid These Gorgons are bred in that countrey and haue such haire about their heads as not onely exceedeth all other beastes but also poysoneth when he standeth vpright Pliny calleth this beast Catablepon because it continually looketh downeward and saith that all the parts of it are but smal excepting the head which is very heauy and exceedeth the proportion of his body which is neuer lifted vp but all liuing creatures die that see his eies By which there ariseth a question whether the poison which he sendeth foorth proceede from his breath or from his eyes Wherupon it is more probable that like the Cockatrice he killeth by seeing then by the breath of his mouth which is not competible to any other beasts in the world Besides when the Souldiors of Marias followed Iugurtha they sawe one of these Gorgons and supposing it was some sheepe bending the head continually to the earth and mouing slowly they set vpon him with their swordes whereat the Beast disdaining suddenly discouered his eies setting his haire vpright at the sight whereof the Souldiors fel downe dead Marius hearing thereof sent other souldiers to kill the beaste but they likewise died as the former At last the inhabitauntes of the countrey tolde the Captaine the poyson of this beasts nature and that if he were not killed vpon a sodaine with the onely sight of his eies he sent death into his hunters then did the Captaine lay an ambush of souldiers for him who slew him so dainely with their speares and brought him to the Emperour whereupon Marius sent his skinne to Rome which was hung vp in the Temple of Hercules wherein the people were feasted after the triumphes by which it is apparant that they kill with their eies and not with their breath So that the fable of Seruius which reporteth that in the furthest place of Atlas these Gorgons are bredde and that they haue but one eie a peece is not to be belieued excepte he meane as elsewhere he confesseth that there were certaine maides which were sisters called Gorgons and were so beautyfull that all young men were amazed to beholde them Whereupon it was saide that they were turned into stones meaning that their loue bereft them of their witte and sence They were called the daughters of Cetus and three of them were made Nimphes which were called Pephredo Enyo and the third Dinon so called a Geraldus saith because they were olde women so soone as they were borne whereunto was assigned one eie and one tooth But to omit these fables it is certaine that sharpe poisoned sightes are called Gorgon Blepen and therefore we will
of his death the commaund of all his treasure In like sort I will not be afraid to handle this Lyon and to looke into him both dead and aliue for the expressing of so much of his nature as I can probably gather out of any good writer In the next place we are to consider the kindes of Lyons and those are according to Aristotle two the first of a lesse and well compacted body which haue curled manes being therefore called Acro leontes and this is more sluggish and fearefull then the other The second kind of Lyon hath a longer body and a deeper lose hanging mane these are more noble generous and couragious against all kind of wounds And when I speak of manes it must be remembred that all the male Lyons are maned but the females are not so neither the Leopards which are begotten by the adultry of the lyonesse for from the lyon there are many beasts which receiue procreation as the Leopard or Panther There is a beast called Leontophonus a little creature in Syria and is bred no wher els but where lyons are generated Of whose flesh if the lion tast he looseth that princely power which beareth rule among foure footed-beasts and presently dyeth for which cause they that lie in waite to kill lyons Varinus Hesychius take the body of this Leontophonus which may well bee englished Lion-queller and burneth it to ashes afterwards casting those ashes vpon flesh whereof if the lion tast she presently dyeth so great is the poyson taken out of this beast for the destruction of lyons for which cause the lyon doth not vndeseruedly hate it and when she findeth it although she dare not touch it with her teeth yet she teareth it in pieces with her clawes The vrine also of this beast sprinkled vppon a lyon doeth wonderfully harme him if it doth not destroy him They are deceiued that take this Lion-queller to be a kind of Worme or reptile creature for there is none of them that render vrine but this excrement is meerely proper to foure-footed-liuing-beastes And thus much I thought good to say of this beast in this place which I haue collected out of Aristotle Pliny Solinus Aelianus and other Authors aforesaide although his proper place be afterward among the lions enemies The Chimaera is also fained to be compounded of a lion a Goate and a Dragon according to this verse Prima leo postrema Draco media ipsa Chimaera There be also many Fishes in the great Sea about the I le Taprabones hauing the heades of Lyons Panthers Rams and other beasts The Tygers of Prasia are also engendred of Lyons and are twice so big as they There are also Lyons in India called Formicae about the bignesse of Egyptian Wolues Camalopardales haue their hinder parts like Lyons The Mantichora hath the body of a Lyon The Leucrocuta the necke taile and brest like a lion and there is an allogorical thing cald Demonium Leoninum a lyon-Diuel which by Bellunensis is enterpreted to be an allegory signifieng the mingling together reasonable vnderstanding with malicious hurtfull actions Monsters breed like Lyons It is reported also by Aelianus that in the Iland of Choos a sheepe of the flock of Nicippus contrary to the nature of those beasts in stead of a lamb brought forth a lion which monstrous prodigy was seene and considred of many whereof diuers gaue their opinions what it did pretend namely that Nicippus of a priuate man should effect superiority and become a tyrant which shortly after cam to passe for he ruled all by force and violence Coelins not with fraud or mercy for Fraus saith Cicero quasi vulpeculae vis leonis esse videtur that is Fraud is the property of a Foxe and violence of a Lion Heroditus It is reported that Meles the first King of Sardis did beget of his concubine a lyon the South-sayers told him that on what side soeuer of the city he should lead that lion it shold remaine inexpugnable and neuer be taken by any man whereupon Meles led him about euery tower and rampier of the citty which hee thought was weakest except onely one Tower standing towards the riuer Tmolus because hee thought that side was inuincible and could neuer by any force be entred scaled or ruinated Afterwards in the raigne of Crasus the Citty was taken in that place by Darius There are no lions bred in Europ except in one part of Thrasia for the Nemaeon Countries without Lyons or Cleonaean lion is but a fable yet in Aristotles time ther were more famous valiant lions in that part of Europe lying betwixt the Riuers Achelous and Nessus then in all Affrica and Asia For when Xerxes led his Army through Paeonia ouer the Riuer Chidorus the lyons came and deuoured his Camels in the night time but beyonde Nessus towardes the East or Achillous towards the West there was neuer man saw a lion in Europe but in the region betwixt them which was once called the countrey of the Abderites there were such store that they wandered into Olimpus Macedonia and Thessalia but yet of purpose Princes in castles and Towers for their pleasures sake do nourish and keepe Lions in Europe where sometimes also they breed as hath been seene both in England and Florence Pelloponesus also hath no lions and therefore when Homer maketh mention of Dianaes hunting in the mountaines of Frimanthus and Taygetus he speaketh not of lions but of Harts and Bores All the countries in the East and South lying vnder the heate of the Sun do plentifully breede lions and except in whot countries they breed seldome and therefore the lions of Fesse Temesna Angad Hippo and Tunis are accounted the most noble and audatious lions of Affrick because they are whot countries Countries of their breed But the lions of colder countries haue not halfe so much strength stomack and courage These Libian lions haue not halfe so bright haire as others their face and necke are very horrible rough making them to looke fearefully and the whole collour of their bodies betwixt browne and blacke Apolonius saw lions also beyond Nilus Hiphasis and Ganges and Strabo affirmeth that there are lions about Meroe Astapae and Astabore which lions are very gentle tame and fearefull and when the dog star called Canis Sirius doth appear wherof commeth the dog daies that then they are droue awaie by the bitings of great gnats Aethiopia also breedeth Lyons being blacke coloured hauing great heads long hair rough feet fiery eies and their mouth betwixt red and yellow Silicia Armenia and Parthia about the mouth of Ister breed many feareful Lyons hauing great heads thick and rough neckes and cheekes bright eies and eye-lids hanging down to their noses There are also plenty of lyons in Arabia so that a man cannot trauell neare the citty Aden ouer the mountaines with any security of life except he haue a hundred men in his company The Lions also of Hircania
meate whereby thou dost wrong others as thou hast bene wrongd thy selfe By which it is manifest that Myoxus is neither a Toad nor a Frog but the Dormous And the charme which is made for the Asses vrine as we haue shewed already in his story Gallus bibit non meijet Myoxus meijet non bibit whether they render vrine drinke not The cocke drinketh and maketh not water the Dormous maketh water and neuer drinketh But whether it be true or no that she neuer drinketh I dare not affirme But this is certain that she drinketh but very sildome and it ought to be no wonder that she should make water for tame Conies as long as they can feed vpon greene hearbes do render abundance of vrine and yet neuer drink The Graecians also do call this beast Elayos although that word do likewise signifie a Squirel In Maesia a wood of Italy there is neuer founde Dormous except at the time of their littering They are bigger in quantity then a squirrel the colour variable somtimes black The quantity colour and seuerall partes somtimes grisled sometimes yellowe on the backe but alwaies a white belly hauing a short haire and a thinner skinne then the pontike mouse They are also to be found in Heluetia about Clarona It is a biting and an angry beast and therefore sildome taken aliue The beake or snowt is long the eares short and pricked the taile short and not very hairy at the ende The middle of the belly swelleth downe betwixt the breast and the loyns which are more narrow and trussed vp together they are alwaies very fat and for that cause they are called Lardironi Bucke-mast is very acceptable meat vnto them and doth greatly fatten them Their food they are much delighted with walnuts they climbe trees and eat Apples according to some but Albertus saith more truely that they are more delighted with the iuyce then with the Apple For it hath bin oftentimes sounde that vnder Apple trees they haue opened much fruite and taken out of it nothing but the kernels for such is their wit and policie that hauing gathered an Aple they presently put it in the twist of a tree betwixt bowes and so by sitting vpon the vppermost bough presse it assunder They also grow fat by this meanes In auncient time they were wont to keepe them in coopes or tunnes and also in Gardens paled about with boord where there are beeches or Wal-nut trees growing Norishers nourishing of Dormice and in some places they haue a kind of earthen potte wherein they put them with Wal-nuttes Buck-mast and Chesnets And furthermore it must be obserued that they must be placed in romes conuenient for them to breed young ones their water must be very thinne because they vse not to drinke much and they also loue dry places Titus Pompeius as Varro saith did nourish a great many of them enclosed and so also Herpinus in his park in Gallia It is a beast wel said to be Animal Semiferum a creatur half wilde for if you set for them hutches and nourish them in warrens together it is obserued that they neuer assemble but such as are brede in those places And if straungers come among them which are seperated from them either by a mountaine or by a riuer Society and charity in them Pliny they discry them and fight with them to death They nourish their parents in their old age with singular piety We haue shewed already howe they are destroyed by the Viper and it is certaine that all serpentes lie in wait for them Their old age doth end euery winter They are exceeding sleepy and therefore Martiall saith Somniculosos illi porrigit glires They grow fat by sleeping and therefore Ausonius hath an elegant verse Dic cessante cibo somno quis opimior est glis Because it draweth the hinder legges after it like a Hare it is called Animal tractile for it goeth by iumpes and little leapes In the winter time they are taken in deepe ditches that are made in the woods couered ouer with small stickes straw and earth which the cuntrymen deuise to take them when they are asleepe The meane◠to take these Dormice At other times they leap from tree to tree like Squirrelles and that they are killed with arrowes as they goe from bough to bough especially in hollowe trees for when the hunters finde their haunt wherein they lodge they stop the hole in the absence of the Dormouse and watch her turne backe againe the silly beast finding her passage closed is busied hande and foote to open it for entrance and in the mean season commeth the hunter behind her and killeth her In Tellina they are taken by this meanes The countrimen going into the fields carryeth in their hands burning torches in the night time which whē the silly beast perceiueth with admiration thereof flocketh to the lights whereunto when they were come they were so daseled with the brightnesse that they were starke blinde and might so bee taken with mens hands The vse of the flesh of these mice The vse of them being taken was to eat their flesh for in Rhetia at this day they salt it and eat it because it is sweet and fat like swines flesh Ammianus Marcellinus wondereth at the delicacy of his age because when they were at their tables they called for ballaunces to weigh their fish and the members of the Dor-mouse which was not done saith hee without anye dislike of some present and thinges not heretofore vsed are now comended daily Appitius also prescribeth the muscles and flesh inclosed of them taken out of euery member of a Dormous beaten with pepper Nut-kernels Parcenippes and Butter stuffed altogether into the belly of a Dormous and sewed vp with thread and so baked in an Ouen or sod in a kettle to be an excellent and delicate dish And in Italy at this day they eat Dormice saith Coelius yet there were ancient lawes among the Romans called Leges censoriae whereby they were forbidden to eat Dormice strange birds shel-fish the neckes of beasts and diuers such other things And thus much shal suffice for the description of the Dormouse The medicines of the Dormouse Dormyse being taken in meate doe much profit against the Bulimon The powder of Dormyse mixed with oyle Pliny doth heale those which are scalded with any hot licker A liue Dormouse doth presently take away all warts being bound thereupon Dormyse and field-mice being burnt and their dust mingled with hony will profit those which desire the clearnesse of the eyes if they doe take thereof some small quantitie euery morning Marcellus The powder of a Dormouse or field mouse rubbed vpon the eyes helpeth the aforesaid disease A Dormouse being flead roasted and annointed with oyle and salt being giuen in meate is an excellent cure for those that are short winded The same also doth very effectually heale those that spit out filthy matter or
come the inhabitants and in little bottels made of the skinns of these beasts which before they haue killed and so put the muske into them This they sell for a great price because it is thought and that worthily to be a gift fit for a king But if this muske be taken out of the creature by violence then wil hee bringe forth no more yet expresse it by his own naturall art he beareth againe and againe The greatest cause of this humour is the sweetnes of his foode and the ayre wherein they are bredde therefore if one of them be brought into this part of the worlde with muske in his cod it wil grow to ripenes in a temperate aire but if it bee brought without muske in the cod then it wil neuer yeeld any among vs And besides that it liueth but a little while And therefore my opinion is that this excrementall humor is vnto it like a menstruous purgation for the want whereof it dieth speedily Euery part of this beast is called muske which commeth forth of his vlcerous yssue for although the other partes smell sweete yet we will shew afterwardes more at large that it is not of themselues but by reason of this humour The pretiousnes of this thing deserueth a further treatise for thy better direction and instruction of the knowledge heereof The best muske declared by these seueral countries both for the choice of that which is best and for the auoyding and putting awaye of that which is adulterate At Venice at this day it is sold in the cods and the Indian muske is better then the Affrican The browne is alwaies better then the blacke except it be of Catha for that of Catha is blacke and best of all There is some that is yellowish or betwixt redde and yellowe after the verye same coulour of Spicknard this also is of the best sort because the beastes that render it do feed vpon Spicknard Syluius Therefore this is good to be chosen because it cannot be adulterated and besides the tast of it is bitter and as soone as euer it is tasted it presently ascendeth to the braine where it remaineth very fragrant without resistance and is not easily dissolued It is not bright within Auicen but muddy hauing broad graines and equall throughout like the wood of Baulme But according to the regions they chuse muske in this sort Of the Indian muske that of the Region of Sceni called Antebeuus they set in the first place and next vnto it the beastes of the Sea side The muske of Cubit is knowne by the thinne bladder of the beast wherein it is contained Elluchacem but that of Gergeri is lesse Aromaticall and more thicke The muske of Caram is in the middle place betwixt both wherwithall they mingle powder of Gold and Siluer to encrease the waight The muske of Salmindy is worst of all because it is taken out of his blather or cod and put into a glasse There are some which preferre the Tumbascine muske and they say that the odor thereof commeth from the sweete hearbes whereupon the beast feedeth and the like is said of the Region of Sceni but the odor is not equall to the other And the Tumbascines doe not gather the muske after the fashions of others For they draw not forth this matter out of the cod nor yet gather it in calme weather The Cenians they presse foorth the matter out of the ventricle and when they haue it forth mingle it with other things and that in cloudy and tempestuous weather afterwards they put them vp in glasses and stop the mouth close and so they send it to be sold vnto the Sarizines and to Amanus and to Parsis and to Haharac as if he were a Tumbescine When this beast goeth furthest from the sea and feedeth toward the desart vpon Spikenard then is his muske sweeter but when they feede neare the Sea it is not so fragrant because they feede vpon myrh Auicen sayeth there is some kinde of muske like a Citron but such hath not been seene in this part of the world for our muske is most commonly like the colour of iron and the sauour of it Serapto like a Cirenian Apple but stronger and consisteth of little peeces but it is better that hangeth together and hath a sauor of the wildernesse but if it be adulterated with Snakes or Byrds-dung then will it be lesser pleasant in the sauor and also pinch and offend the nose The hunters of Tebeth and Seni as we haue shewed already do kil their sweet Rose and afterwards take out from them their bladder of muske which musk being exerped before it be ripe smelleth strongly and vnpleasantly And then they hang it vp a little while in the open and free ayre wherein it ripeneth as it were by concoction in the sun and therby receiueth an admirable sweetnesse And the like doe diuers Gardeners vse towardes Apples and fruites of trees which are gathered before they be ripe For by laying them vp in a dry place they weare away their sharpnesse and become pleasant But it is to be remembred that musk is the best which doth ripen in his owne cod before it be taken out of the beast for before it is ripe it smelleth displeasantly There is not much perfect muske brought into this part of the world but the strength of it commeth from the vertue of the cod wherein it is put and so it is brought to vs but the best is brought out of the East where groweth Spicknard and sweet Hearbs Rodericus Lucitanus saith that our muske is compounded of diuers things the ground whereof is the bloud of a little beast like a Cony which is brought out of Pegun a prouence of India But the meanes whereby to try it may be this after it is waied they put it into some moist or wet powder and after a little while they waigh it the second time The tryall of Muske and if it exceed the former waight then do they take it for sound perfect and good but if it doe not exceed then do they iudge it adulterate Some Marchants when they are to buy muske stop it to their noses Simion Sethi Syluius and holding their breath run halfe a stones cast afterwards they pul it from their Nose and if they perceiue the sauor of the muske then do they but it and take it for good but if not they refuse it for corrupted In some Churches they make perfumes with muske and by mingling Stirax Alloes Amber and iuyce of Roses they make a perfume called Regium Suffimigium the Kings perfume likewise vnto sweet waters drawne out of the furnaces of Chymis whereunto they adde simple Rose Water and for the richer sort of people muske and Camphory Andreus Furnerius in his French booke of adorning mans nature teacheth a composition to be made of certaine Oyles Sope and Muske And also ointmentes and musked oyles He also sheweth how
Marble thinking to get as much fauour and libertie as their fellow had gotten but the Emperor seeing them and perceauing their fetches bid them rub one another and thereupon came that prouerbe And thus much for the naturall discourse of Mules now followeth the medicinall The medicines of the Mule The dust wherein a Mule shall turne or rowle himselfe Pliny being gathered vp and spread or sprickled vpon the body of any one who is ardently and feruently in loue will presently asswage and quench his inflaming desire A man or woman being poysoned and put into the belly of a Mule or Cammell which is new killed will presently expell away the force of the venome or poyson and will confirme and make stronge their decayed spirits and all the rest of their members Ponzettus For as much as the very heate of those beastes is an Antidote or preseruatiue against poyson The skinne or hide of a Mule being put vnto places in any ones body which are burned with fire doth presently heale and cure the same it doth also heale sores and grieuous vlcers which are not come vnto impostumes The same is an excellent remedie for those whose feete are worne or wrung together through the pinching of their shoes to helpe themselues withall Auicenna and for those which are lame and those which are troubled with those grieuous sores called Fistulaes If any man shall take either in meate or drinke the marrow of a Mule to the weight or quantitie of three golden crownes he shall presently become blockish and altogether vnexpert of wisedome and vnderstanding and shall be voide of all good nutriment Albertus Aesculapius and maners The eare laps or eare lages of a Mule and the stones of a mulet being borne and caried by any woman are of such great force and efficacie that they will make her not to conceaue The hart of a Mule being dryed and mingled with wine and so giuen to a woman to drinke after that she is purged or clensed thirtie times hath the same force Sextus and power that the aforesaid medicine hath for the making of a woman barren The same effect against conception hath the barke of a white popular tree being beaten together with the reines of a Mule then mingled in wine and afterwards drunke vp If the hearbe called Harts tongue be tyed vpon any part of a woman with the spleene of a mule Auicenna but as some haue affirmed by it selfe onely and that in the day which hath a darke night or without any Moone shine at all it will make her altogether barren and notable to conceaue If the two stones of a mule be bound in a piece of the skinne of the same beast and hanged vpon any woman Albertus they wil make that she shal not conceaue so long as they shal be bound vnto her The left stone of a weasell being bound in the skin or hide of a mule and steeped or soked for a certaine space or time in wine or in any other drinke the drinke in which they are so steeped giuen to a woman to drinke doth surely make that she shall not conceaue The stones of a mulet being burned vpon a barren and vnfruitfull tree Aesculapius and put out or quenched with the stale or vrine of either man or beast which is gelded being bound and tyed in the skin of a Mule hanged vpon the arme of any woman after her menstrual fluxes will altogether resist and hinder her conception The right stone of a Mule being burned and fastened vnto the arme of a woman which is in great paine and trauaile Sextus will make that she shall neuer be deliuered vntill the same be losened and taken away but if it shall happen that a maide or young virgin shall take this in drinke after her first purgation or menses shee shall neuer be able to conceiue but shall bee alwaies barren and vnfruitefull The matrix or wombe of a female Mule taken and boiled with the flesh of an Asse or any other flesh whatsoeuer 〈◊〉 and so eaten by a woman which doth not know what it is will cause her neuer to conceiue after the same The worme which is called a gloworme or a Globird being taken out of the wombe or matrice of a female Mule and bound vnto any part of a womans body Kiramiâ—â—s wil make that she shal neuer be able to conceiue The dust or powder which proceedeth from the hoofes of a male or female Mule being mixed or mingled with oil which commeth from Mirtleberies Plinie doth very much help those which are troubled with the gout in their legs or feet The dust of the hoofes of a Mule being scorched or burned and the Oyle of Mirtle berries being mingled with Vineger and moist or liquid Pitch Marcellus and wrought or tempered in the forme or fashion of a plaister and opposed or put vnto the head of any one whose haires are too fluent and abundant doth very speedily and effectually expell the same The Liuer of a Mule being burned or dryed vnto dust and mixed with the same oile of Mirtle berries and so annointed or spread vpon the head is an excellent and profitable remedy for the curing of the aforsaid enormity The dust or powder of the hoofes of a female Mule is very wholesome and medicinable for the healing and curing of all griefes and paines which do happen or come vnto a mans yard Sextus being sprinkled thereupon The hoofe of a Mule being borne by a woman which is with child doth hinder her conception The filth or vncleanesse which is in the eares of a Mule being bound in the skin or hide of a little or young Hart and bound or hanged vpon the arme of a woman after her purgation doth cause that she may not conceiue The same being in like manner mingled or mixed with oile which is made of Beauers stones doth make any woman to whom it is giuen to drink altogether barren The durt or dung Mule being mixed with a sirup made of hony Marcellus vineger and water and giuen to any one to drinke that is troubled with the heart swelling and it will very speedily and effectually cure the paine thereof The dung of a Mule being burned or dryed and beaten small and afterwardes sifted or seirced and washed or steeped in wine and giuen to any woman to drink whose menstruall fluxes come forth before their time will in very short space cause the same to stay The stale or vrine of a male or female Mule being mingled with their durt or dung â—ippocrates is very good and medicinable for those to vse which are troubled with cornes and hard bunches of flesh which grow in their feete Assafoetida being mingled with the vrine of a Mule to the quantity of a beane and drunke will altogether be an impediment and hinderance to the conception of any woman Râ—sâ—â— The stale or vrine
Lycia and Caria are verye long but yet weake and without carriage being not able to leape farre yet is their skin so hard as no yron can pierce Betwixt the riuer Ganges and Hiphasis Apollonius saw many panthers Leo Affriâ— The Indians also breed many and make them tame and leopards do liue in the woods of BARBARIA The seuerall parts of Panthers It is apparant by that which is already saide that the Panther is the name of the greater pardall and the Leopard of the lesser which the Arabians call Alnemer and Alfhead Alnemer is bigger then a Linx but like a Leopard hauing greater and sharper nailes and feete blacke and terrible eies and therefore stronger fiercer and bolder then the Leoparde for it setteth vppon men and destroyeth them Oppianus describeth both kinds in this manner There are saith he two kindes of pardals a greater and a lesser the greater are broader backt and bigger in quantity the lesser being lesse in quantity but not inferior in strength both of them haue the same shape and colour of body except in their taile for the greater pardall hath the lesser taile and the lesser the greater either of them haue solid and sound thighs a very long body bright seeing eies the Apples whereof do glister vnder their eye-lids which are gray and red within like to burning coales their teeth pale and venemous their skin of diuers colors yet bright and pleasant the spots standing like so many black eies vpon it Thus far Oppianus Such skins are oftentimes solde in the marts of Europe which are broght in bundles twenty or thirty togither and it is not to be forgotten which Volateran citeth out of Aelianus that ther is in this kind of pardals a beast called Bitis not vnlike to the vulgar Leopards in al parts except that it wanteth a tail they say that if this beast be seene by a woman it will instantly make her to be sick but to proceed to the residue of the parts of these beasts we must remember that which Aristotle writeth in his physiognomy as is recorded by Adamantius Leo perfectissimam maris ideam praese fert Pardalis vero foemineam formum ex primit crucibus tantuÌ„ exceptis quibus ad inuadendum fortiter vtitur that is to say Among all beasts the lyon doeth most resemble the male and the pardall the female except in the legs which she vseth to take her prey It hath a little face a little mouth little eies somewhat white plaine and not much holow a long forehead eares rather round then smooth or broad a necke very longe and slender the brest not wel set out with ribs because they are small the backe long the buttockes and thighes very fleshy the partes about the small of the belly or loines are more smooth lesse hollow and bunchy the colour diuers and the whole body in articulate not well compounded for the outward sight and it is to be remembred saith Carden that all rauening beasts are like a Cat as Lyons panthers Linces and pardals for they haue in common the length and strength of their claws beautiful party coloured skins alitle head and round face a long taile nimblenes of body and wildnes of nature liuing vppon the meat they get in hunting The Persians call a pardall Barbact and Scaliger describeth it thus In his red or yellow haire he is like a Lyonesse but set with diuers blacke spots both in length and bredth as if they were painted It hath a browne face aspersed with blacke and white and it is to bee remembred that as other beasts are either all blacke or all red or all white or all of one colour by nature so also it is natural to pea-cockes and panthers to haue diuers colours in them for there are in Hircania panthers with little round spottes like eies both blacke Albertus Pliny white blew and green as both Solinus and Claudius testifie which caused Martial to write thus Picto quod iuga delicata collo pardus sustinet There is a land called Terra eremborum inhabited by the Troglodites and Sarazens in Lybia where the vper face of the earth is campared vnto the panthers skin because through the heat of the sun it is burned and died as it were into diuers colors so that ye shal see diuers spots of white black and green earth as if it wer done of purpose by the hand of man The teeth of the panther are like sawes as are also a Dogs and a Lyons theyr tongue of such incredible sharpenesse that in licking it grateth like a file The females haue foure vdders in the midst of their belly the heart is great in proportion because he is a violent beast terifieng man There are many fissures in their feet Aristotle Their former feet haue fiue distinct claws or fingers and their hinder feet but four for litle ones among foure-footed-beasts haue fiue fingers vpon their hinder fret when they go they hide their nailes within the skinne of their feet as it were in sheaths neuer bringing them forth but when they are in their prey to the intent they should neuer be broken nor dulled Their tails haue no long haires at the end like a Lyons or Oxes and the Leopaâ—d hath a wider mouth then the pardall The female is oftener times taken then the male the reason is giuen by Volateran because she is inforced to seeke abroad for her owne meate and her yoong ones The place of their aboad is among the mountaines and woods The food of Panthers and especially they delight in the tree Camphorie They rauen vpon flesh both birdes and beastes for which cause they hide themselues in trees especially in Mauritania where they are not very swift of foote therefore they giue themselues to take Apes which they attaine by this pollicy when they see the apes they make after theÌ„ who at their first approching climbe into the tops of trees there sit to auoyd the Panthers teeth for she is notable to follow theÌ„ so hie but yet she is more cunning then the Apes and therefore diuiseth more shifts to take them that where nature hath denied hir bodily power there she might supply that want by the gifts of the mind Forth therefore shee goeth and vnder the tree where the Apes are lodged she lieth downe as though she were deade stretching out her limbes and restraining her breath shutting her eyes and shewing all other token of expiration The Apes that sitte on the toppes of the Tree behold from on high the behauiour of their aduersary and because al of them wish her dead they more easily beleeue that which so much they desire yet dare not descend to make tryall Then to end their doubtes they chuse out one from among them all whom they thinke to be of the best courage and him they send downe as it were for an espy to certifie al the residue forth then he goeth with a thousand feares in
sheep To begin with the food Their diet doth not much differ from Goats and yet they haue some things peculiar which must now be expressed It is good therefore that their pastures and feeding places looke toward the sun setting and that they be not driuen ouer far or put to too much labour for this cause the good sheapheard may safely feed his sheep late in the euening but not suffer them to go early abroad in the morning They eat all maner of hearbs and plants and sometimes kill them with their bitings so as they neuer grow more The best is to giue them alwaies greene meate and to feede them vpon land falowed or plowed to be sowne with corne and although by feeding them in fat pastures they come to haue a softer wooll or haire according to the nature of their food yet because they are of a moyst temperament it is better to feede them vpon the salt and short pasture for by such a dyet they both better liue in health and also beare more pretious wooll In dry pastures they are more healthy then in the fenny and this is the cause why it is most wholesome for them to keepe in plowed groundes wherein they meete with many sweet and pleasant hearbs or else in vpland medowes because all moysture breedeth in them rottennesse he must avoid the woods and shadowy places euen as he doth the fens for if the sun come not vpon the sheepes food it is as hurtful vnto him as if he picked it out of the waters and the shepheard must not thinke that there is any meate so gratefull vnto his cattle but that vse and continuance wil make them to loath it wherefore he must prouide this remedy namely to giue them salt oftentimes in the summer when they returne from feeding and if he do but lay it in certaine troughs in the folds of their own accord they wil licke thereof and it will encrease in them great appetite In the winter time when they are kept within doores they must be fed with the softest hay such as is cut down in the autumne for that which is riper is lesse nourishable to them In some countries they lay vp for them leaues especially green Ewe leaus or Elme three-leaued-grasse sowed-vines and chaffe or pease when other things faile where there are store of vines they gather their leaues for sheep to eat thereof without al danger and very greedily and I may say as much of the Oliue both wild and planted diuers such other plants all which haue more vertue in them to fat and raise your beasts if they be aspersed with any salt humor and for this cause the sea wormwood excelleth all other hearbs or food to make fat sheep And Myndius writeth that in Pontus the sheep grow exceeding fat by the most bitter and vulgar wormwood Beanes encrease their milke and also three-leaued-grasse for that is most nourishable to the Ewes with young And it is obserued for the fault which in latin is called Luxuria segetum and in English rankenesse of corne there is no better remedy then to turne in your sheep in May when the ground is hard if not before for the sheep loueth wel to crop such stalks and also the corne will thriue neuer the worse for in some places they eat it down twice and in the country about Babilon thrice by reason of the great fertility thereabouts and if they should not do so Pliny it would turn or run al into stalke and idle vnprofitable leaues The same extasie is reported to follow sheep when they haue eaten Eryngia that we haue expressed already in the history of goats namely that they all stand still and haue no power to goe out of their pastures til their keeper come and take it out of their mouths It is reported that they are much delighted with the herb called Laserpitium which first purgeth them and then doth fat them exceedingly It is therefore reported that in S. Cyrene there hath bin none of this found for many yeares because the publicans that hier the pastures are enimies to sheepe For at the first eating thereof the sheep wil sleep and the goat wil fal a neezing In India and especially in the region of the Prasians it raineth many times a dew like liquid hony falling vppon the hearbs and grasse of the earth wherefore the shepheards lead their flocks vnto those places wherwithal their cattle are much delighted and such as is the food they eat such also is the tast of the milke they render neither neede they to mingle honny with their milk as the Graecians are constrained to do for the sweetenesse of that liquor saueth them of that charge Such a kind of dew the Haebrewes call Manna the Graecians Aeromelos and Drosomelos The Germaines Himmelhung and in English Honny-dew but if this bee eaten vpon the herbs in the month of May it is very hurtful vnto them We haue shewed already that in some parts of Affricke and Ethiopia their sheepe eate flesh and drinke milke and it is apparent by Philostratus that when Apollonius trauailed towardes India in the region Pegades inhabited by the Orite they fed their sheepe with fishes and so also they doe among the Carmanian Indians which do inhabit the Sea-coastes and this is as ordinary with them as in Caria to feed their sheep with figs because they want grasse in that country and therefore the flesh of the sheep do tast of fish when it is eaten euen as the flesh of sea-soules The people of that country are called Ichthyophagi that is fish-eaters Likewise the sheepe of Lydia and Masidonia their sheepe grow fat with eating of fishes Aenius also writeth of certain fishes about the bignesse of Frogs which are given vnto sheep to be eaten Aâ—eanus In Arabia in the prouince of Adeâ— their Oxen Camels and sheep eate fishes after they be dryed for they care not for them when they be green the like I might say of many other places generally it must be the care of the shepard to auoid all thorny and stony places for the feeding of his sheep according to the precept of Virgill Si tibi lamitium curae primum aspera sylua Lappaeque tribulique absint Because the same thing as he writeth maketh them bald and oftentimes scratcheth their skin asunder his words are these Scabras oues reddit cum tonsis illotus Ad hesit sudor hir suti secuerunt corpora Vepres Although a sheep be neuer so sound and not much subiect to the pestilence yet must the shepard regard to feede it in choice places for the fat fields breed straight and tall sheep the hils and short pastures broad and square sheepe the woods and Mountaine places small and slender sheep but the best places of all are the new plowed grounds Although Virgil prescribeth his shephard to feed his flock in the morning according to the maner of the country wherein he liued for the middle part
and of the Chesnut tree and pilled white strakes in them and made the white appeare in the rods Then he put the rods which he had pilled into the gutters and watering troughes when the sheepe came to drinke before the sheepe and the sheepe were in heate before the rods and afterwards brought foorth yoong of partie colour and with small and great spots And Iacob parted these Lambes and turned the faces of the flocke towards these partie-coloured Lambes and all manner of blacke among the sheepe of Laban so he put his owne flockes by themselues and put them not with Labans flocke And in euery Ramming time of the stronger sheepe Iacob layed the rods before the eyes of the sheepe in the gutters that they might conceaue before the rods but when the sheepe were feeble he put them not in and so the feebler were Labans and the stronger were Iacobs Vpon this action of the Patriarke Iacob it is cleare by testimony of holy Scripture that diuers colours layed before sheepe at the time of their carnall copulation doe cause them to bring forth such colours as they see with their eyes for such is the force of a naturall impression as we reade in stories that faire women by the sight of Blackamores haue conceaued and brought forth blacke children and on the contrary blacke and deformed women haue conceaued faire and beautifull children whereof there could be no other reason giuen in nature but their onely cogitation of and vpon faire beautifull men or blacke and deformed Moores at the time of their carnall copulation So that I would not haue it seeme incredible to the wise and discrete Reader to heare that the power of water should change the the colour of sheepe for it being once granted that nature can bring forth diuers coloured lambs being holpen by artificial means I see no cause but diuersitie of waters may wholy alter the colour of the elder as well as whited sticks ingender a colour in the yoonger And thus much shall suffice to haue spoken concerning the Summering of sheepe For their Wintering I will say more when I come to entreate of their stabling or housing Of the copulation of sheepe Now then it followeth in the next place to discourse of copulation or procreation for there are diuers good rules necessary obseruations whereby the skilfull shepheard must be directed which he ought to obserue for the better encrease of his flocke First of all therefore it is cleare that Goates will engender at a yeare old and sometime sheepe also follow that season but there is a difference betwixt the lambes so engendered the other that are begotten by the elder therefore at two yeare old they may more safely be suffered to engender and so continue till they be fiue yeare old and all their lambs be preserued for breeding but after fiue yeare old their strength and naturall vertue decreaseth so that then neither the damme nor the lambe is worthy the nourishing except for the knife for that which is borne and bred of an old decayed substance will also resemble the qualities of his sires There be some that allow not the lambe that is yeaned before the parents be foure yeare olde and so they giue them foure yeares to engender and breede namely till they be eight yeare olde but after eight yeares they vtterly cast them off and this opinion may haue some good reason according to the qualitie of the region wherein they liue for the sooner they begin to beare yoong the sooner they giue ouer and herein they differ not from Cowes who if they breede not till they be foure yeare olde may continue the longer and for this cause I will expresse the testimony of Albertus who writeth thus Oues parere vsque ad annum octauum possunt si bene curentur vel in vndecimum facultas pariendi protrahitur quod tempus est tota fere vita oues in quibusdam tamen terris marinis vbi sicca salsa habent pascua viuunt per vigintie annos pariunt That is to say sheepe may breede vntill they be eight yeare olde if they be well kept vntill they be eleauen which time is for the most part the length of their daies although in some countries vpon the Sea costes they liue till they be twenty yeare old and all that time breed yoong ones because they feede vpon dry and salt pastures and therefore Aristotle also saith that they bring forth yoong ones all the time of their life The time of their copulation as Pliny and Varro write is from May 'till about the middle of August and their meaning is for the Sheepe of those hot countries For in England and other places the Shepheardes protract the time of their copulation and keepe the Rammes and Ewes asunder till September or October because they would not haue their Lambes to fall in the cold Winter season but in the spring and warme weather and this is obserued by the auncient Shepards that if the strongest Sheepe doe first of all begin to engender and couple one with another Aristotle Albertus that it betokeneth a very happy and fortunate yeare to the flocke but on the contrary if the younger and weaker Sheepe bee first of all stirred vp to lust and the elder be backward and slow it presageth a pestilent and rotten yeare They which drinke salt Water are more prone to copulation then others Helpes for the copulation of sheep and commonly at the third or fourth time the female is filled by the Male. There is a great similitude and likenesse betwixt Sheep and Goates First for their copulation because they couple together at the same time Secondly for the time they beare their young which is fiue months or a hundred and fifty daies also many times they bring forth twins like Goates and the Rams must be alwaie so admitted as the Lambes may fall in the spring of the yeare when all things grow sweete and greene and when all is performed then must the Males be seperated from the females againe that so all the time they goe with young they may go quietly without harme In their conception they are hindered if they bee ouer fat for it is with them as it is among Mares and Horsses some are barren by nature and others by accident as by ouer much leanenesse or ouermuch fatnesse Plutarch maketh mention of an ancient custome among the Graecians that they were wont to driue their Sheepe to the habitation of Agenor to be couered by his Rammes And I know not whether he relate it as a story or as a Prouerbe to signifie a fruitefull and happy Ramming time I rather encline to the latter because he himselfe saith in the same place that Agenor was a wise and skilfull King Maister of many flockes whose breede of Sheepe was accounted the best of all that Nation and therefore either they sent their females to be couered by his Rammes or else they
aske counsel of Apollo in what place they should meet with their wiues Apollo gaue them answere that when they should meet with an extreame wild beast as they went into Lacedemonia and yet the same beaste appeare meeke and gentle vnto them there they should take their wiues When they came into the land of the Cleonians they met with a wolfe carrying a lambe in his mouth whereupon they conceiued that the meaning of Apollo was that when they met with a wolfe in that country they might very happily and successiuely take them wiues and so they did for they married with the daughters of Thesander Cleonimus a verie honest man of that countrey It is reported of Milo Crotaniata that valiant strong man how vpon a season rending a tree in sunder in the woods 〈◊〉 destroy ◠by wolues one of his armes was taken in the closing of the tree he had not strength enough to loose it againe but remained there inclosed in most horrible torments vntill a wolfe came and deuoured him The like story vnto this is that which Aelianus reporteth of Gelon the Syracusan a scholler vnto whome there came a Wolfe as he sat in the schoole writing on his Tables Coelius Tzetzes and tooke the writing tables out of his hand The schoolemaister being inraged heerewith and knowing himselfe to be a valiant man tooke hold of the same tables in the VVolues mouth and the VVolfe drew the maister and schollers in hope of recouery of the tables out of the schoole into a plaine field where sodainely hee destroyed the schoole-maister and a hundered schollers sparing none but Gelon whose tables were a baite for that prey for hee was not onely not slaine but preserued by the VVolfe to the singular admiration of al the world whereby it was collected that that accident did not happen naturally but by the oueruling hand of God Now for these occasions as also because that the wooll and skin of beasts killed by wolues are good for nothing although the flesh of sheepe is more sweeter are vnprofitable and good for nothing Men haue bin forced to inuent and find out many deuises for the destroying of wolues The taking of Wolues the reward of the hunters for necessity hath taught men much learning and it had beene a shameful misery to indure the tyranny of such spoiling beastes without labouring for resistaunce and reuenge for this cause they propounded also a reward to such as killed VVolues for by the law of Dracho he that killed a young wolfe receiued a tallent and he that killed an old wolfe receiued two talents Solon prescribed that hee that brought a VVolfe aliue shoulde receiue fiue peeces of mony and he that brought one dead should receiue two Apollo himselfe was called Lycoctonos a wolfe-killer because he taught the people how to put away wolues Homer calleth Appollo Lysegenes for that it is saide immediately after hee was borne of his mother Latona he was chaunged into the shape of a wolfe and so nourished and for this cause there was the image of a wolfe set vp at Delphos before him Others say that the reason of that ymage was because that when the temple of Delphos was robbed and the treasure thereof hid in the grounde while diligent inquisition was made after the theeues there came a wolf and brought them to the place where the golden vessels were couered in the earth which she pulled out with her feete And some say that a wolfe did kil the sacriliger as he lay asleepe on the mountaine Parnassus hauing all the treasure about him and that euery day she came downe to the gates of Delphos howling vntil some of the Cittizens followed her into the mountaine where shee shewed them the theefe and the treasure both together But I list not to follow or stand vpon these fables The true cause why Apollo was called a VVolfe killer was for that he was feined to be a shepheard or Heardsman and therefore in loue of his catle to whom wolues were enemies he did not onely kil them while he was aliue but also they were offered vnto him in sacrifice for wolues were sacred to Apollo Iupiter and Mars and therefore wee read of Apollo Lycius or Lyceus to whom there were many temples builded and of Iupiter Lyceus the sacrifices instituted vnto him called Lycaea and games by the same name There were other holly-daies cald Luper calia wherein barren women did chastice themselues naked because they bare no children hoping thereby to gaine the frutefulnesse of the wombe whereof Ouid speaketh thus Excipe foecunde pascientur verbera dextrae Iam socer optatum nomen habebit saui Propertius and some other writers seeme to be of the mind that those were first instituted by Fabius Lupercus as appeareth by these verses Verbera pellitus setosamouebat arator Vnde liceus Fabius sacra lupercus habet And Inuenal thus Nec prodest agili palmas praebere luperco Now concerning the manner of taking of VVolues Diuers policies and inuentions to take wolues the Auncients haue inuented manic deuises and gins and first of al an yron Toyle which they stil fasten in the earth with iron pins vpon which pins they leaue a ring being in compasse about the bignes of a wolues head in the midst whereof they lay a peece of flesh and couer the Toyle so that nothing is seene but the flesh when the Wolfe commeth and taketh holde of the flesh feeling it sticke pulling hard he pulleth vp the ring which bringeth the whole Toyle on his necke and sharpe pins This is the first manner that Crescentiensis repeateth of taking Wolues and he saith there are other deuises to ensnare their feet which the Reader cannot vnderstand except he saw them with his eies The Italians cal the nets wherein wolues are taken Tagliola Harpago Lo Rampino and Lycino the French Hauspied and Blondus affirmeth that the shepheardes of Italy make a certaine ginne with a net wherein that part of the Wolfe is taken which is first put into it Now the manner of taking Wolues in ditches and pits is diuers first of all they dig a deep ditch so as the wolfe being taken may not get out of it vpon this pitte they lay a hurdle and within vpon the pillar they set a liue Goose or Lambe when the Wolfe windeth his prey or booty he commeth vpon the trench and seeing it at a little hole which is left open on purpose to cast the wolfe into the deepe ditch and some vse to lay vpon it a weak hurdle such as wil not beare vp either a man or a beast that so when the wolfe commeth vpon it it may breake and he fal downe but the best deuise in my opinion that euer was inuented in this kind is that the pertch and hurdle may be so made and the bait so set that when one wolfe is fallen downe it may rise againe of it one accord and stand as it did before to entrap another